Auburn holds on to take game one from LSU

The No. 21 Auburn Tigers were able to overcome a late rally by No. 13 LSU to take the series opener 5-3 Friday night at Jane B. Moore Field.

[autotag]Maddie Penta[/autotag] shut out LSU for the first six innings but their bats came alive in the seventh inning as they hit two home runs to cut Auburn’s lead to 5-3. She found her groove after that to retire the next two batters and end the game.

Auburn’s ace improved to 19-5 with her 10th complete game of the season. She allowed three runs on six hits and struck out five batters and did not issue a walk.

Auburn (31-12, 8-5 SEC) took a 2-0 lead in the first inning when [autotag]Lindsey Garcia[/autotag] hit a two-run homer to left.

“I don’t care where I am at in the lineup,” Garcia said. “I’m just trying to score runs, come up big for my team and make things happen. For me, 0-2 means nothing. I approach every pitch like the count is 0-0. I’m locked in and trying find a strike to hit hard.”

[autotag]KK McCrary[/autotag] made it a 3-0 game in the fourth when she drove in [autotag]Skylar Elkins[/autotag], who pinch-ran for [autotag]Bri Ellis[/autotag] after she doubled.

The Tigers once again used the long ball to add on in the fifth after [autotag]Makayla Packer[/autotag] led the inning off with a single. [autotag]Nelia Peralta[/autotag] belted a two-run homer of her own to make it 5-0 and drive in what would end up being the deciding runs.

“I was battling in my two previous at-bats, so I was focused on doing my job to move the runner on second,” Peralta said. “The pitcher made a mistake, and it worked out for me.”

Auburn will go for the series win Saturday at 1 p.m. CT. The game will be streamed on SEC Network+.

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